Time for the Good News!

After hours of praying and more praying, I accepted a job offer today!

It is sort of strange how it all worked out, I did my summer internship for school with them and now I am back. The company is MedSynergies and great things are happening with them. It is going to be a learning experience and I'm looking forward to what God has in store for me there.

This job also changes things for Alec and I. He spends most of his time working in Las Colinas and now, I will also be working in Las Colinas. We live a good 30 miles away, so needless to say, a move will also take place. Our lease is up in May, so we've got to get busy looking for something in that area. We'll see what happens!

I hope everyone is having a great week, it is FRIDAY THE 13TH! Be afraid, if you believe in that kind of stuff. 

Exciting Times!

When I was initially laid off I was really upset. Because I loved that job so much?? Absolutely not, because it was part of my routine, I was comfortable there, and to be honest with you I said I was going to leave after a year, but I'm not sure I would have. I'm not one that adjusts to change quickly and easily, I like being in my comfort zone, even if it means being unhappy every day at work. 

Alec said all along that me being laid off was the best thing that could have happened to me. It forced me to get out of my comfort zone and go find something that I could actually enjoy doing. He couldn't have been more right. I'm not going to elaborate too much, but I am interviewing at a couple of places and I'm pretty excited about the opportunities that are out there. I don't like interviewing, it is awkward and uncomfortable, but I've realized that I worked really hard to get my degree, and I worked really hard at Professional Alternatives, and that I am a good employee. I spent the first couple of weeks networking and getting my resume out there, and now that interviews are being scheduled I'm getting really excited. So... I will keep you updated as soon as I feel comfortable or know something more about the jobs I am talking about.

On top of job searching I have also been doing a lot of reading. I am a book nerd, proud of it! I've read three books in the last month and have a list a mile long of books that I'd like to read. 

The last book I read was:

I have to tell you why I bought this book. I remember my dad saying he was reading this or had read it, and I think he and I like the same types of books. I'm not about to give a book review or anything, but I'm glad I read it.... it was sort of depressing, but I feel smarter for reading it. hahaha. 

My next book was:

I heard soooo much about this book, so I decided to finally read it. It's a great story and definitely worth reading. 

My favorite book so far:

I LOVE this book. Seriously, I've thought about just reading it again. It is a true story and it is so amazing how God works in our lives. If you haven't read it, go buy it and read it. It isn't long, but get your tissues, I found myself curled up on the couch bawling my eyes out. It is an awesome story!

If you have any suggestions for books to add to the list, please tell me!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Alec didn't have to work this weekend, so we had an entire weekend to spend with each other! It was great! Spent a lot of time with friends and nothing beats that!

I have to include this, I got a little grief for rooting for the Steelers yesterday. Most of the grief came from the fact that if the Steelers won, they would beat the Cowboys in the most won. Well, lets get one thing out of the way, the Cowboys didn't deserve that anyway, maybe, just maybe this will motivate them to play as a team and win another one. They need something to whip them into shape and make them play like grown professionals. So, here is why I am happy the Steelers won:

1. I had Hines Ward and Willie Parker on my fantasy team, Alec had Ben R. so we spent the season watching all of their games anyway. (If you don't play Fantasy football, you wont get it)

2. Mike Tomlin, he is an awesome coach and seems like an awesome guy. I think it is pretty cool that he won a SuperBowl.

3. As Coach Tomlin said last night, they may not earn "Style Points" but they get the job done... that is exactly how it should be!

4. Who likes Arizona anyway?? Maybe this will make Kurt Warner hang up his XXXXL jersey. 

Ok, I'm off of my sports soap box, but I had to get that off my chest!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!

Guess Who's Happy I'm Home?

As you all know, I am not working right now, and let me tell you, TUCKER LOVES IT! haha. Poor guys is going to be in a world of hurt when I start working again. 

So, here are some recent pictures of our little "child". 

He looks guilty, I'm sure he is.

Precious puppy, he loves that bone.

He doesn't get much attention around here.... hahahaha.

If you can't tell, he is ASLEEP. Alec whispers to me, "be quite and come look at this." and he was, out cold.

This is his toy basket, he loves it.

He really is so much fun and I'm not going to lie, it is nice to have him here while Alec works FOREVER. 

I've spent the week job searching, spending time with my sister, going to dinner with a friend, and it was a pretty good week. Alec only had to work until 8:30pm all week, a much needed break from the 10:00pm he was doing last week. Alec has really been pretty amazing through all of the recent changes we have gone through. He has been so supportive and I am so thankful for him. I can't imagine working working 60+ hours a week and he manages to do it with no complaints. I say it a lot, I'm a lucky girl. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful week, the weekend is practically here!!! We don't have any plans this weekend, hopefully just relaxing and spending some much needed time together. We are bummed, we have to miss my grandparents 20th anniversary, CONGRATULATIONS MIMI AND GRANDPA DON!!! We love you guys!

Have a great weekend everyone! 

The Job Search

I would first like to say THANK YOU so much to everyone who left encouraging words, it is nice to hear other peoples stories of the way that God works through difficult times, I know this is no different. So, thank you thank you!

I wish I had something exciting here to write about on the job front, but I more or less have nothing, which is discouraging to me, but I got laid off a week ago today, so I'm just going to stay positive and know that this is going to work out. 

So, in order to help keep myself positive, here are some things I'm really happy about today:

1. Carrie got the job here in Dallas, they will be living here in LESS THAN A MONTH. I cannot wait! 
2. The Steelers are going to the Super Bowl. Ok... Alec got me into fantasy football this season and even though our league is over now, I had Willie Parker and Hines Ward and Alec had Ben Rothlesburger. So... somehow over the season we took a liking to them. We both really like Mike Tomlin, the coach... and the Cowboys were embarrassing so, we are going for them. I'm not ready for football to be over though.
3. I got to spend all weekend with Alec, hopefully that will hold me over until Friday because he will be working late all week. 
4. I'm excited about my future job. I know that it will be FINALLY be something I enjoy doing!

That's really all I can think of today... but hey, that is better than nothing. 

I have a quick question.... I see everyone's adorable Blog headers, maybe I missed this but do you guys pay someone to do it, or can you do it yourself somewhere?? Help a girl out, mine needs SERIOUS help!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Please keep Alec and I in your prayers, with his long hours, and my job search, it would be greatly appreciated!!

I've had better days before....

Have you ever prayed about something and had God answer it a little different than you had imagined? Well, I have been praying about my job for quite some time. To say the least, it hasn't been a "dream job" by any means. However, it was a job and I was determined to stick it out until I figured out what to do about it. I had basically been praying, "Is this where I am suppose to be or do I need to start looking for something else?"

Well, He made it REAL clear to me yesterday. We had a financial meeting this past Thursday and management made very sure to let everyone know that we WOULD NOT be doing lay-offs. They lied, yesterday, the two most recent hires got laid off and I was one of them. To say that I was shocked doesn't even do it justice. I'm not sure what happened from Thursday to Monday, but that was what the business thought was best, which means to me, God wants me somewhere else. I have never been fired, and never laid off, so it stung a little... no matter how many times my boss said that it had NOTHING to do with my performance, I couldn't help but wonder what else I could have done. 

So, here I sit in my living room, still in my pajamas, wondering what the heck to do. My Mimi has given me a hard time for a long time saying I shouldn't work... well, I was only home a half day yesterday and was bored out of my mind.... not working isn't an option. So, once again I start a job search. When I found Professional Alternatives back in April I sort of just had to settle, I was getting married in two months and needed something ASAP. This time, I'd like to find something I really want to do. I am thankful for Alec's job and all of his hard work, he didn't get home until 10pm last night..... long day! He has been the best husband in the world through all of this, seems to have the right words to say to make me feel like I'm not a failure and it is going to be fine.

I hope everyone is having a good start to a new week and any prayers would be greatly appreciated, once again, I know God has a plan and the hard part is chilling out and not worrying about it till it all works out.

Back to Reality

The holidays have come and gone, right along with my vacation! To say that Alec and I were less than thrilled about going to work on Monday is a complete understatement! We were enjoying our time off and NOT ready for it to come to an end.... however, here I sit at my desk, trying to get this work week behind me!

Christmas was wonderful! We loved every min. we got to spend in Ballinger with my family! It was a relaxing time spent playing games, talking, eating, hunting, and just hanging out. It had been a while since we had that much time to spend out there, it's always nice to go "home".

The ski trip was also a lot of fun. I was pretty stressed out about the drive. We took Alec's truck, he's had it since he was 16... it is in ok shape, but I did not feel good about driving it all the way out to Angel Fire. However, it made it there and back in one piece, and now I'm ready to get rid of it! haha. The snow was awesome, the mountian was packed, and the new Sowards house in Angel Fire is perfect! We had a great time and I'm looking forward to going back soon!

Now, for the fun stuff!!! BRIAN AND CARRIE ARE COMING TOMORROW! Carrie is my other half. The best friend a girl could ask for and I haven't seen her since the wedding in May! They are coming into town for several reasons, a wedding, job interview, house hunting, and visiting us and other friends. It will be a quick visit, but just a taste of what is to come and soon hopefully! For those that don't know, we have been friends since our Freshmen year of college and have just gotten closer over the years. So to say that I am pretty pumped that she is moving back to Texas, much less the Dallas area, is an understatement. Alec and I are introducing them to Gloria's on Thursday night when they get into town, hope they love it, if not, they have the most awesome $3 margarita's and I know they'll love those! CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU GUYS TO GET HERE!!!

Alec started busy season this week, I hate it. As my mother says, you can do ANYTHING for 3 months. So, I'm going to suck it up and know that March will be here before we know it and we have a trip planned to celebrate him being done :) He has to go to Abilene on Saturday for another inventory count... boo! So, I'm just going to keep myself busy till he gets home.

Hope everyone is having a great start to a new year! Happy HumpDay!

The Best of 2008

Here is a look back of some of Alec and I's favorite memories of 2008 in pictures. Enjoy!!

The year started out with us both in Abilene, this is a picture at Perini's for his surprise birthday party! We had so much fun our last semester there!!

THE WEDDING! This is without a doubt the most fun day of our life! It could not have been more perfect!! 

The Honeymoon. We went to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico and loved every single second of it. We'll never forget the week we spent relaxing after the whirlwind weekend of our wedding :)

This is at a Ranger game during the summer before Alec started work. We had a lot of fun doing stuff like this all summer.

Allie's graduation! We got to drive to College Station to see her become a Former Aggie. It was a pretty cool experience and we are so proud of her!

We went this fall to Abilene to watch the ACU football play-off game. It was pretty cool to see how many people were there and to go back to see them win!

Our FIRST Thanksgiving as a married couple. We have never spent a holiday together, I'm looking forward to many more!

The Becker/Bell wedding! It was so much fun! We had been looking forward to that day for a long time and it certainly lived up to the hype. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a blast!

Tucker! This is Alec's first dog ever! Can you believe that! It has definitely been a learning experience, he has been a great addition to our little family.

Christmas at the Becker Ranch! Again, our first Christmas together. Alec killed his first deer! Everyone was pretty excited, first deer to be shot on my parents land!

Last but not least, Ski Trip/New Years in Angel Fire, New Mexico. Alec's parents bought this house this summer and it is AWESOME! We had a great time skiing/boarding. The snow was great, most of the runs were open, and it was a lot of fun!! 

That is a quick look back on our year! We have been blessed in so many ways in 2008 and I am looking forward to what 2009 has in store! 

I have a few "New Years Resolutions" I am going to share (mostly so that I can look back in a couple of months and see how well I have done!):

1. Switch to AM workouts. When I say AM I mean 4:30AM. I love working out in the morning and being done for the day, so I am setting the goal and we'll see how it goes.
2. Be more patient! The puppy is helping with this process, I just get in a hurry and set my mind on something that I get irritated when things disrupt it, I'd like to stop that! 
3. Run a 10K. 

That's really all I have, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Years!